Apotheker Out, As HP Names Meg Whitman CEO

HP's board of directors today announced that Léo Apotheker has "stepped down" as CEO. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has been appointed as the new president and chief executive officer.

"We are fortunate to have someone of Meg Whitman's caliber and experience step up to lead HP," said HP Board Director Ray Lane. "We are at a critical moment and we need renewed leadership to successfully implement our strategy and take advantage of the market opportunities ahead. Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution. She is a strong communicator who is customer focused with deep leadership capabilities. Furthermore, as a member of HP's board of directors for the past eight months, Meg has a solid understanding of our products and markets."

Whitman said, "I am honored and excited to lead HP. I believe HP matters – it matters to Silicon Valley, California, the country and the world."

In addition, Mr. Lane has moved from non-executive chairman to executive chairman of the board of directors, and the board intends to appoint a lead independent director promptly. These leadership appointments are effective immediately and follow the decision that Léo Apotheker step down as president and chief executive officer and resign as a director of the company.

Speaking on behalf of the board, Lane said, "We very much appreciate Léo's efforts and his service to HP since his appointment last year. The board believes that the job of the HP CEO now requires additional attributes to successfully execute on the company's strategy. Meg Whitman has the right operational and communication skills and leadership abilities to deliver improved execution and financial performance."

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HP Board Ousts Apotheker

ssid12 @ 9/22/2011 2:10:29 PM # Q
Done and dusted!! Apotheker out and Meg in!! Lets hope that all the idiot moves by HP will be erased and webOS will be resurrected..... PalmHP webOS whatever you want to call it just won't die..... as long slow deaths go this is an epic.... I bought a touchpad 32G in the UK at a firesale price and I have to say its a fun device... (after its been tweaked)... Just needs some apps and a few updates....
Reply to this comment

Apotheker will take home $25 million

Gekko @ 9/22/2011 4:00:49 PM # Q
HP's ousted CEO will take home $25 million
By David Goldman
September 22, 2011: 4:22 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Hewlett-Packard's CEO revolving door is costing the company a fortune.
On the job as chief executive for not even 11 months, Leo Apotheker will leave HP (HPQ, Fortune 500) a wealthy man: He has already taken home most of his $1.2 million annual salary, a $4 million signing bonus, and an additional $4.6 million awarded for relocation assistance and to offset payments that he forfeited from his previous employer, SAP.

Apotheker was ousted on Thursday, but he'll collect more money on his way out the door. The former CEO will take home $7.2 million in cash as severance, plus $18 million more in stock.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/22/technology/hp_leo_apotheker_severance/index.htm?iid=HP_LN

RE: Apotheker will take home $25 million
LiveFaith @ 9/22/2011 7:27:47 PM # Q
I love how they try to put a positive spin on the firing, like "we appreciate his work". Corporations and government never cease to amaze that they could not tell the truth if they even knew what it was.

Boy, HP sure did get with the program here. Looks like Leo was the last great decision by the Board. That adulterer looks better and better in hindsight I guess.

What a company.
Pat Horne

RE: Apotheker will take home $25 million
Gekko @ 9/22/2011 7:32:41 PM # Q

In The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, Bogle argues that our current system has undergone " 'a pathological mutation' from traditional owners' capitalism to a new form, managers' capitalism."

With power moving away from owners of securities, this new system has been led afoul by "grossly excessive executive compensation and stock options, part of an enormous transfer of wealth from public investors to the hands of business leaders, corporate insiders and financial intermediaries."

"In 1980, the compensation of the average chief executive officer was forty-two times that of the average worker; by the year 2004, the ratio had soared to 280 times that of the average worker (down from an astonishing 531 times at the peak in 2000). Over the past quarter-century, CEO compensation measured in current dollars rose nearly sixteen times over , while the compensation of the average worker slightly more than doubled. Measured in real(1980) dollars, however, the compensation of the average worker rose just 0.3 percent per year, barely enough to maintain his or her standard of living. Yet CEO compensation rose at a rate of 8.5 percent annually, increasing by more than seven times in real terms during the period. The rationale was that these executives had "created wealth" for their shareholders. But were CEOs actually creating value commensurate with this huge increase in compenstion? Certainly the average CEO was not. In real terms, aggregate corporate profits grew at an annual rate of just 2.9 percent, compared to 3.1 percent for our nation's economy, as represented by the Gross Domestic Product. How that somewhat dispiriting lag can drive average CEO compensation to a cool 9.8 million in 2004 is one of the great anomalies of the age."
— John Bogle


RE: Apotheker will take home $25 million
jca666us @ 9/23/2011 3:39:42 AM # Q
No great surprise Apotheker is out, but what will be of interest, is to see what direction Meg Whitman goes with HP.

Considering the mess she's inherited, she may be doing nothing more then putting the final nails into HP's coffin.

RE: Apotheker will take home $25 million
jca666us @ 9/23/2011 4:12:12 AM # Q
TO/ All HP Employees
FROM/ Léo Apotheker

Dear HP Employees:

This afternoon, HP issued a press release announcing my resignation as president and CEO, positions I have held with great honor this past year. Meg Whitman will assume the role of president and CEO.

As you know, Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution and has served HP well as a member of the board for the past eight months. Meg will be supported by a broad and deep management team, and I have the utmost confidence that HP will succeed in executing its strategic evolution.

On a personal level, I cannot begin to express the admiration I have for all of you – and what you have accomplished together. Over the past year, we were tasked with developing a strategic vision for HP and I know we have made important contributions to the company's future.

Your efforts on behalf of HP and your dedication to our customers have inspired me – and I am confident that HP has a bright future because of the talented people that come to work here every day. Thank you for your commitment to HP and for your dedication in serving HP's customers and partners. It has been a tremendous honor and a pleasure to work with you here at HP.

Sincerely,

Léo Apotheker

Sent From My TouchPad

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In total around 35 million, but who's counting...

gkzenner @ 9/23/2011 4:24:58 PM # Q
The first thing Ms. Whitman needs to do is to reorganize the compensation committee, of course given their generous nature that is probably not likely to happen. I'm sure the morale at HP is at an all time high when a failed CEO ends up earning $3/second. I can't vouch for the complete accuracy of these numbers, but, this site seems to have it about right.


The numbers below assume former CEO Apotheker worked 7 days a week, 10 hours a day for the almost 11 months he was with HP.

$35,700,000 for 11 Months Work Equals:

330 Days Worked
$108,181.82/Day

3300 Hours Worked
$10,818.18/Hour

198,000 Minutes Worked
$180.30/Minute

11,880,000 Seconds Worked
$3.00/Second

source: http://corporatemal.com

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Report: Whitman supports the decision to kill the Touchpad

AdamaDBrown @ 9/26/2011 12:09:31 PM # Q
Per InfoWorld.com, Meg Whitman supports Apotheker's decisions to kill off the Touchpad, and to spin off HP's hardware operations.

http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/hps-meg-whitman-new-ceo-same-old-strategy-173792

RE: Report: Whitman supports the decision to kill the Touchpad
LiveFaith @ 9/27/2011 11:54:43 PM # Q
Thud.
Pat Horne
RE: Report: Whitman supports the decision to kill the Touchpad
richf @ 10/1/2011 7:21:56 AM # Q
Who's holding out hope for the Amazon resurrection? Myself, after the hatchet job on Android thinks this may not work out well at all. Unless a phone odm gets it, stick a fork in it.
Have a nice day!
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NYT: Amazon buying Palm?

Tuckermaclain @ 10/2/2011 9:42:50 AM # Q
RE: NYT: Amazon buying Palm?
nastebu @ 10/3/2011 9:19:36 AM # Q
According to the article, Amazon would be buying Palm only for the patents. That's like hacking apart the body to sell the organs.
RE: NYT: Amazon buying Palm?
AdamaDBrown @ 10/5/2011 2:30:52 PM # Q
Which is, to be fair, exactly what's usually done after the body is dead.
Reply to this comment

Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?

HyperScheduler @ 10/4/2011 12:25:24 PM # Q
Just wondering: if Palm had remained King, do you think that Palm could have been the one to create the equivalent of iCloud, iOS5, and the iPhone 4S ?
RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
hkklife @ 10/4/2011 12:44:22 PM # Q
Considering the enormous delay between the launch of the iPhone 4 and the barely-refreshed 4S, I think Palm definitely could have released an underwhelming "upgrade" with a small screen.

What a disaster today. It was the biggest non-event ever. Siri looks awesome, as does iOS 5 but 99% of those cloud features (such as the "PC-free activation") have been standard on Android and WebOS for YEARS! The only 4S hardware I am jealous of is that seemingly awesome camera and the 64GB of internal storage. All of the companies in the Android camp as well as Sandisk etc should be flogged for not flooding the market with cheap 64GB microSDXC cards (and compatible hardware) by now to counter Apple's big "storage advangage". With unlimited data rapidly becoming a thing of the past and overloaded wireless networks, I prefer my locally stored media, thanks.

And, c'mon, Apple...3.5" screen and 3G-only connectivity? That just screams 2007/2008! I am honestly surprised to see the 3GS still hanging in there but it's a testament to Apple's code monkeys that a relatively ancient and underpowered device like that can handle iOS 5 so well.

I fully expect ICS and the Samsung Nexus Prime to blow everyone's socks off next week. However, Android 2.x is really showing its age and Honeycomb is a huge disappointment in almost every way. Google desperately needs to shore up their OS now that the hardware specs for phones are basically on par with a low-end PC.
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RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
HyperScheduler @ 10/4/2011 1:07:20 PM # Q
More grist for the mill regarding the supremacy of PalmOS (see last question):

http://allthingsd.com/20110928/larger-mac-font/

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
jca666us @ 10/5/2011 2:55:31 AM # Q
hkk,

Apple isn't playing a game w/ specs (samsung and google will always win that battle) - instead they're focusing on evolutionary improvements and usability.

Apple has moved towards updating the iPhone line twice a year; I expect we'll see another upgrade sooner rather than later.

For those eligible to upgrade, the iPhone 4S does look fantastic.

I'll be upgrading when the iPhone has 4G, but I think having the Siri assistant integrated into iOS 5 will be the killer feature for the iPhone 4S (in addition to all of the internal improvements).

iOS is already faster and more efficient then Android - throw in a dual core cpu, and android devices need much faster hardware in order to keep up.

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
hkklife @ 10/5/2011 12:42:11 PM # Q
At this point, it's the 3.5" screen more than anything else that irks me. Quite simply, for those with big man thumbs like yours truly, 4" is really the minimum for effective onscreen typing.

I'd like to see Apple maintain 3 iPhone formfactors:

3.5" "Classic"

3.7" or 4" mainstream model

4.3" or 4.5" "mini iPad phone"

Or, introduce a lower-cost 3.2" iPhone nano, have the "classic" at 3.5 to 3.7" and then the "big" model at 4" or greater.

That arrangement has served the iPod line well for many years. I think a larger-screen, even at the expense of the vaunted Retina Display PPI, is the best compromise for those still squealing for an iPhone with a physical keyboard (not gonna happen).


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Apple iPhone 4S: Beginning of the end?
Gekko @ 10/5/2011 3:39:09 PM # M Q
RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
AdamaDBrown @ 10/5/2011 3:55:39 PM # Q
Apple's doing what many successful companies have done when they had a hit product: play it safe. The problem is, that's a route to disaster. Playing it safe means no serious innovations, just trying to re-sell the same product over and over. Witness Palm's behavior over the years. Is there really more difference between, say, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 4S than there was between the Palm Tungsten T and T5?

Sure, when you've got one massively hit product with a rabid fanbase, there's the risk of a change to the product turning off your customers. But sticking with what amounts to one real product with little to no differentiation, you subject yourself to stagnation and people slowly looking elsewhere because you don't offer what they want.

The irony is, Apple learned this with the iPod. The original iPod was a huge hit, but that didn't stop them from having great success with the iPod Nano, the Touch, and other versions.

Likewise, there's plenty of room to differentiate in the iPhone. You can start with the iPhone Classic. Then you have the iPhone Messenger with a slide-out keyboard. Lastly you go for the iPhone Cinema with a 4.5 inch screen and mini-HDMI.

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
Gekko @ 10/5/2011 4:26:43 PM # M Q

In the long run of a market it's hard for a solitary proprietary closed platform company to compete with many companies all each contributing R&D and innovation specialties and resources to an open platform. In the long run, open and free always wins. History repeats itself.
RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
nastebu @ 10/6/2011 10:46:14 AM # Q
I guess I don't see why the iPhone 4S is "safe."

On the hardware side, the missing piece most seem to complain about is a much bigger screen and 4G, which are hardly "innovations" in the sense of something new. It's not clear that most people want a bigger screen on a phone. It comes with trade offs for phone size and battery life that Apple just may well not consider worth it. Likewise for 4G. Apple seems to have concluded that the trade offs are not yet worth it.

On the software side, Siri is actually quite a risk. They are selling it as a whole new way of interfacing with the phone. If it doesn't work well, it's going to be a major joke. Everyone will be bringing back fifteen year old Newton jokes.

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
nastebu @ 10/6/2011 10:52:22 AM # Q
I guess one way to look at it would be to ask whether, if Apple had come out with an iPhone 5 with a bigger screen, 4G or LTE or whatever it is, and only minor iOS tweaks, would *that* have been innovative?

That course sounds much more conservative and staid than what they actually did.

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
hkklife @ 10/6/2011 12:04:59 PM # Q
On screen sizes: taking iOS devices out of the equation, it's pretty clear that the vast majority of top-selling Android devices are larger-screened (4" and above) handsets.

I see wwaaayyyy more Evos and Droids on a regular basis than I do, say, Moto Cirtus or LG Optimus S phones. Of course, with the subsidized pricing model in the USA, most people can "afford" higher-end handsets. In Europe and elsewhere in the world where unlocked phone are commonplace, I would expect things to skew more towards the middle and lower-end offerings with 3.2" and 3.5" screens.

Back to the 4S: The disappointment, in my book, stems from timing, timing, and timing. All of it bad.

Not that I am going to jump ship to iOS or anything, but if I WAS a devout iOS fan, I would be upset that the 4S was launched in October instead of in June. The 4S with its current specs would have made for a perfect 1-year refresh for the iPhone 4. But 16 months between releases does demand a bit more "special sauce". Also, keep in mind how phenomenally Android (and even RIM's latest phones) have come since June of 2010 when the iPhone 4 launched.

Just this year we have seen the widespread emergence of dual-core Android phones with powerful GPUs and screen sizes in excess of 4.3". qHD (960x480) is now fairly common and 720p is going to be the next milestone, hopefully starting as soon as next week.

Of course, all of this nifty hardware comes at the expense of battery power which is still something that Gogle DESPERATELY needs to address. Google needs to also clamp down on these horrid manufacturer UI skins or at least give all users the ability to toggle between stock Android and the manufacturer's UI. Fragmentation is still a HUGE problem and rotten publishers like Gameloft and EA are only contributing to the problem in a major way. Honeycomb is a UI disaster (is it Duarte's fault?) with a major dearth of top quality apps, so I really hope that Ice Cream Sandwich brings major improvements on that front. I've given up hope of any modern platform bothering to pay attention to PIM, so that's a lose cause.

4G (especially LTE) puts Apple in a very compromising situation, even more so than when the original iPhone launched without 3G in 2007. At that time, the novelty of a "huge" capacitive touchscreen and such superb multimedia functionality outweighed its EDGE radio. Now, however, people are clamoring for "4G" without realizing just how damn bulky and inefficient the current crop of LTE chipsets are.
That said, this is all the more reason Apple REALLY SHOULD have released the 4S back in June or so. It's amzing to even think in these terms, but 4G was not as much of a buzzword in June as it is in October, especially for Verizon and with the holidays around the corner.

If Apple had squeezed one a final 3G handset (and a global one at that), people would have mostly been accepting of that and prepared for the LTE-packing iPhone 5 in 2012. I never expected a WiMax iPhone for Sprint. I think they could have capitalized on the "faux G" HSPA+ trend pretty easily and gone with something a bit faster than a 14.4 for GSM models but that's a chipset limitation as well and likely with little real-world benefits for most users.

All other options aside, Apple should have at least bumped the 4S up to a 3.7" screen since that's a fair trade-off between pixel density and screen size. If nothing else, it would have kept the media and blogosphere from being so critical.
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RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
AdamaDBrown @ 10/6/2011 1:08:04 PM # Q
"It's not clear that most people want a bigger screen on a phone."

That would be news to the many, many models which are now available sporting bigger screens, and the many people who are buying them. It's not an exaggeration to say that the iPhone is now pretty much the only successful smartphone with a screen less than 4" in size.

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
Gekko @ 10/6/2011 5:06:11 PM # M Q

i'm seriously considering this new upcoming Nexus Prime with 4.65"+ 720p display and ice cream sammmmmmmmich......
RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
hkklife @ 10/6/2011 5:53:17 PM # Q
Positives of this device (if the rumored specs are accurate):

-4.65" 720P AMOLED screen will set a new benchmark for EVERY mobile device
-Dual core 1.2 or 1.5Ghz. Either way this puppy will be FAST
-Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0
-Updates will come straight from Google and not hindered by Verizon or Samsung's bloatware and length customization process.
-LTE!
-1080p video recording and supposedly excellent camera optics will make this a potential P&S camera replacement
-Slim and curved form factor

Potential negatives of this device:
-Horrible battery life. I've seen my boss' Droid Bionic chew through a fully-charged extended battery in an afternoon in a fringe area. The NP may have a fixed battery and/or an extended option may not be available. Add to that the demands of that big high-res screen

-No HDMI-out. Why do Samsung and HTC insist on using that horrific MHL dongle? It's poorly supported, cumbersome, and has NO tangible benefit over a conventional microHDMI port. Moto has done it right with their side-by-side microUSB and microHDMI ports on their Droid line.

-No expandable storage. Just like Palm before them, Samsung is trying to be "cool" and ape Apple with non-expandable storage. I have nearly 40GB of data sitting here on my Droid X2 now (8GB internal and 32GB microSDHC card). I use my phone as my flash drive and carry gigs of documents and photos for work on there, as well as the majority of my music collection (high bit rate) and a few movies. I don't trust the cloud for certain documents nor do I want to get too comfy with Dropbox b/c I JUST KNOW that any day now VZW is going to crack down hard on the grandfathered unlimited plans. I would also not rule out Google having a hand in this as they have showcased continued imcompetence trying to get full read/write expansion card capabilities into Honeycomb. Android Honeycomb in SO MANY ways is like Palm's WebOS: snazzy to look at but missing or worse at certain functions than its older but proven predecessor.

At any rate, I am going to be eligible for an upgrade in a few months, so I will be sorely tempted by the NP. That screen is just to die for.
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RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
Gekko @ 10/6/2011 6:14:58 PM # M Q
Cons addressed -
1. Hdmi out - i never used it on my EVO so no big deal for me. Novelty. No use for me.
2. battery - supposedly coming w 2,000+ ma battery. Should get me through the day/night.
3. if No sd card - if you asked me 2 years ago i would have said 'deal breaker!'. Today i say no biggie. With my 23GB on Dropbox and unlimited data and 16GB? Internal storage on NP i have plenty. In fact - after 1.5 years w EVO ive never even taken out the sd card yet! But i stream music via pandora - i dont "collect" it or watch/collect movies etc.
RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
Gekko @ 10/6/2011 6:17:36 PM # M Q
Ps negatives for me would be -

1. If No LED indicator.
2. If No Sprint. I pay $72/month w taxes etc. for unlimited everything. I like Sprint and wont leave.

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
nastebu @ 10/6/2011 8:42:44 PM # Q
AdamaDBrown wrote:
"It's not clear that most people want a bigger screen on a phone."

That would be news to the many, many models which are now available sporting bigger screens, and the many people who are buying them. It's not an exaggeration to say that the iPhone is now pretty much the only successful smartphone with a screen less than 4" in size.

Doen's that just prove the point though? The iPhone is selling quite well at the current screen size, and there's no indication that the 4S will not sell just as well as the 4.

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
Gekko @ 10/7/2011 3:24:15 AM # Q
>Doen's that just prove the point though? The iPhone is selling quite well at the current screen size, and there's no indication that the 4S will not sell just as well as the 4.

Palms used to sell "quite well" not too long ago. they were the leader and so they felt their specs were "good enough" in spite of the growing competition - and the rest is history.


RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
Gekko @ 10/7/2011 3:33:43 AM # Q

The Key to Spotting Disruption Before It Happens
2010-05-04T13:35:00Z
By Scott Anthony

Go back and look at what happened to CD sales from 1996 to 2001. Or check out newspaper company revenues from 1996 to 2005. Or Kodak's film sales during the 1990s. Or Blockbuster's revenues in the early part of the 2000s. Or Digital Equipment Corporation's revenues in the 1980s. And on and on and on. In the early days of transformation, market leaders tend not to feel deep pain. The transformation takes root away from the mainstream, or in a seemingly non-connected market. It's not yet good enough for mainstream markets. Or, the overall increase in consumption acts as a "rising tide" that lifts the boats in the mainstream market. This makes it easy for executives to say, "I get what you are talking about. But my business is healthy! It's all overblown." It's only after the not-good-enough transformation gets better that a "Big Switch" begins. And when that magic tipping point hits, the switch accelerates rapidly. The lesson for executives is that it's important to look beyond revenue or basic market share data to determine whether or not a would-be disruption is a legitimate threat. If the U.S. Postal Service had measured its market share of "pieces of communication" (which, it very well might have) it would have noticed sharp share declines even as its revenue was increasing. Similarly, while Digital Equipment Corp. might have felt great that its revenues went up from $3 billion to $11 billion during the 1980s, that growth paled in comparison to the explosive growth in the personal computer market.

http://blogs.hbr.org/anthony/2010/05/the_key_to_spotting_disruption.html

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
nastebu @ 10/7/2011 11:40:00 AM # Q
Gekko wrote:
>Doen's that just prove the point though? The iPhone is selling quite well at the current screen size, and there's no indication that the 4S will not sell just as well as the 4.

Palms used to sell "quite well" not too long ago. they were the leader and so they felt their specs were "good enough" in spite of the growing competition - and the rest is history.

But screen size isn't necessarily synonymous with innovation. That was my initial point. Apple is pushing the operating system further, which is the source of the iPhone's real appeal.

This is what I meant when I asked if Apple would really be doing their job if they had just upgraded the specs of the iPhone and left the OS static. I would think that was much more similar to Palm's approach--incremental upgrades while you let the OS rot.

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
Gekko @ 10/8/2011 7:39:28 AM # Q

IMO - they have to push everything - the OS AND the hardware specs. this is a brutal and vicious war that never ends.

one thing i've learned over the years is that winners who seemed unbeatable can become losers very, very quickly - especially in the technology business. losers can become winners too - but that's a much rarer and much harder thing to do.

http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385483827&view=excerpt


RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
nastebu @ 10/8/2011 8:38:13 AM # Q
Sure, but you also can't fix something that isn't broken. Apple seems to have made a gamble that big screens are a fad, and that the current screen size on the iPhone is in the sweet spot. Early sales figures bear that out.
RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
Gekko @ 10/8/2011 10:40:21 AM # Q

we shall see but IMO once you go 4.3"+ you can't go back. and the beauty of Android is customer CHOICE. you want a big display? sure. you want small? mid? no problem. you want a real keyboard slider? take your pick. it's not one size fits all.


RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
AdamaDBrown @ 10/8/2011 1:52:29 PM # Q
"one thing i've learned over the years is that winners who seemed unbeatable can become losers very, very quickly - especially in the technology business."

Bingo. There was a time when it was the Palm Treo that was king of all the smartphones, and nothing could touch it. What was one of the things that helped bring it down? People wanted larger screens.

When a company has a massive hit product like the iPhone, there can be a huge temptation not to change the formula, lest you risk the "they changed it, now it sucks" effect. Nor is that exactly imaginary, since it happens on a regular basis, the most famous example being "New Coke." But an excessive fear of change--particularly when it comes to electronics--is just as dangerous.

hkk, we'll see what the real story is when it comes to the MicroSD slot. But I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't advertise it yet, since the "big deal" is the screen size and to a lesser extent the battery.

Speaking of batteries, I'm not sure if anyone else here has extensive experience with some of Samsung's recent devices, but you should be in for a pleasant surprise. The Samsung Infuse, which sports a 4.5 inch screen and 1750 mAh battery, gets excellent battery life primarily because Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus screens are pretty efficient.

Regardless of whether it has a MicroSD slot (the lack of which I would find troubling, but not fatal), the Prime appears likely to set a new standard for high end smartphones, particularly in the screen department. Super AMOLED Plus screens are pretty dazzling in just 800 x 480; 1280 x 720 is going to be stunning.

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
nastebu @ 10/8/2011 8:52:24 PM # Q
When I was a kid, my father took me to visit his friend who built and flew model radio controlled airplanes. I was very excited, and nervous, so this guy took the plane up in the air and flew it up to a safe altitude and then handed me the controls. I'll never forget his words as he handed me the box. He said, "You're safe, you're at three mistakes high."

My point is that Apple is way more than three mistakes high. There so much commentary that acts as if Apple's newest move is a bet-the-company kind of slip up. The simple fact is that given Apple's reputation for quality, its established user base, the massive cash hoard, the supply line advantages it enjoys, its superb record of R&D, the network of retail stores, the fawning press coverage ... no one mistake is going to seriously damage the iPhone or iPad. It's crazy to act as if the decision to not go with a bigger screen is a huge error. Honestly, if it even was an error, it's not as if they couldn't just release a phone with a bigger screen when the sales were disappointing.

I know what Gekko is saying--complacency is dangerous. The funny ending of that story is that I managed to crash the plane. But the Apple death watch is way overdone. It's quite clear that not going with the thing that all the tech geeks say is absolutely necessary is not an Apple omission, but a reasoned decision by the company that the conventional wisdom is wrong. Honestly, that decision could easily be seen as a *refusal* to follow an obvious formula. Nobody in the tech world would have criticized Apple if they had introduced a bigger screen and 4G. They knew that, but decided to go with their instincts. That's not complacency. Instead of going with an obvious hardware upgrade, they are trying to invent an entirely new way of interacting with the phone. That's at attempt at innovation. It might be stupid. It might not work. But don't miss innovation when you see it.

RE: Off-topic: Could Palm have done this?
Gekko @ 10/9/2011 2:40:35 PM # Q
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